


Project Summoner Act 1

by Damien_Kova



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 19:03:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15125930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Damien_Kova/pseuds/Damien_Kova
Summary: The story follows Maria de Graves. Princess of the medieval Kingdom Noron in her quest to grow in strength and perfect her powers as a Summoner in a world of magic where summoning is so rare that it’s believe to be genetic.(This is a story that I was writing on the side to hopefully make into a novel and sell one day, but due to lack of time and my situation changing from when I started it, I've decided to not let the 20k words I wrote on this to go to waste. There was never an official title, but I hope everyone enjoys reading this. A lot of work went into this and I hope it at least turned out well.)





	Project Summoner Act 1

**Prologue**

 

“Stand up, Maria. The world isn’t going to play fairly with you if you truly want to become a captain.” Medios stood tall and with a confident smile on his face, a wooden sword in his right hand while his left was behind his back, his blue eyes locked on his little sister. “You’re the one that wanted this training. Are you telling me that you want to give up already?” The young Prince brought both of his heels together, the bangs of his red hair just barely coming into his vision as he took a step closer to the young Princess, mentally noting that her fair skin was covered in bruises and marks.   
  
“Don’t you think… you’re being a bit… hard on me?” Maria tried asking through heavy breaths, clutching tightly to the wooden sword that she had managed to keep in her grip. “I’m only eleven! You’re treating me like I’m-”   
  
“Agi.” Medios’ voice broke through the young girl’s pleas, fire sprouting in the air between them and lurching in her direction. “I told you, the world isn’t going to play fair. If you want to be ready, I’ll make sure that you are!” Charging at the girl right behind the fire, the young prince sighed and stopped dead in his tracks as the flames came in contact with Maria’s wooden sword, igniting it right away. However, with his eyes still locked on his sibling’s face, it was easy to see a flicker of determination in those red eyes, bringing a smile to his face.

 

“Huh… You’re determined to see this through, despite being at a clear disadvantage. Noron could use more soldiers with that look.” The flames on the wooden sword grew immensely as the prince once again used his magic. “Magi.” The fire immediately covered his view of Maria’s face, causing him to have to wait and see what her next move would be, considering he was still going easy on her.   
  
Dropping her weapon the moment the flame touched her hand, Maria did her best to smile through the pain, running to her left and bringing her burnt hand to her face to try and keep the fire from her eyes as it began to follow her. Choosing not to say anything to her brother, a soft gasp left her lips as she realized he was no longer standing in the same spot he was when he used his magic but was only a step in front of her, his hand raised in the air for another attack. Instincts and a desire to not be harmed drove the young blonde to raise her own hands and attempt to catch the wood as it came down toward her. Unfortunately, just before she managed to get close enough to stop the attack, the wooden sword suddenly shifted to the right and continued to come down onto her shoulder. A loud crack filled the room as Maria dropped to her knees and whined in pain, coughing quietly as the impact had radiated into her chest.   
  
“Stand up, Maria. We’ll get you another weapon to use.” The young man placed her wooden sword onto the ground and watched with a soft smile as his little sister made him proud as a sibling once again, seeing her stand to her own feet and clutching her shoulder. However, as her red eyes filled with a dense darkness that overshadowed her natural red, changing into almost a void of black as she finally stood up straight, Medios realized this was something else happening and not just her being determined to get better. Seeing hundreds of black feathers fall from the top of the room and gather around the two of them was something that the prince never expected to happen. A silhouette of someone else floated behind his little sister’s shoulder, and he could immediately tell just what was going on. “Maria…? You can’t be… No one in our family has ever been a Summoner!”   
  
“Young one, what would your name be? I don’t recall ever having been summoned by someone as tiny as yourself.~” The spirit’s voice was calming and sweet, yet distorted and twisted as it filled the room. A short pause of silence followed when the spirit got no answer from the overwhelmed girl. “Oh, dear. It would appear that I’m your first Summon. I’m honored, sweetheart! But, tell me something, who should I kill for you today?~”

  
Holding her left hand into the air toward her brother, the young princess smiled and looked behind herself, seeing an almost intangible girl about her size and age with black wings that were three times the size of her body but just as dark and black as her own eyes. The feeling of the spirit’s wings wrapping around her body felt so warm and inviting, even compared to her bed after a fresh wash. And the feeling of the spirit’s soft hands caressing her cheeks was gentle and somehow boosted the princess’s confidence enough to silently convince Maria to turn her attention back to her brother and declare her victory. However, before she was able to open her mouth and say anything to the spirit that had appeared for her, a loud smack filled the room and the spirit vanished from her vision. A moment later, Maria realized that the sound that filled her ears was Medios getting a clean hit on her neck. “M-Medios…”   
  
The young Prince’s light skin was pale with fear as his little sister’s eyes changed from that black void into their natural red color, actual worry and concern coursing through him as Maria hit the ground in front of him. “This can’t be happening… Just what was that thing…?”

  
  


**Act 1**

 

Five years have passed since what the Royal Family of Noron have been calling “The Incident”. No one outside of the castle walls knows of what came to be that day, or even questioned the damaged shoulder that Maria returned from training with. No one wanted to know after Medios explained what happened with the surprise Summoning of something Unknown. Nothing had ever seemed to be wrong with the young prince or princess after what happened, but their parents, King Jeremi and Queen Clara have always had their concerns about what their dear Maria could become if she actually learned how to use her summoning magic properly.

 

**Part 1** **  
** **  
** **Scene 1: “Proving Yourself”**

 

“Medios, come on!! You promised to help me find an instructor in my summoning ages ago! And you just got back from your mission, do you know how long I’ve been waiting?!” Maria followed her brother by staying at the side of his horse, wearing her favorite red skirt and undershirt with a matching pink top over it to represent the family’s colors. She smiled to herself as she realized that she now must've been a decent five foot and four inches tall when comparing herself to the horse. “I’ve even been practicing while you’ve been away. Ever since what happened, I’ve wanted to grow stronger. If I can do something at eleven that can terrify my brother, who was on his way to becoming a Captain, imagine what I could do if I was able to properly make that happen! Or if I was just stronger in general…” The young girl smirked as the horse stopped, giving her reason to believe that her brother was finally going to keep his promise. The blonde leaned against the animal and began to gently pet it, looking up to see Medios wearing a look of disbelief on his face.   
  
“... I suppose you leave me with no choice, Maria. Fine. I’ll take you to find an instructor on one condition.” The prince got down off of his horse, looking at his sister from the other side. “You prove to me that you can handle yourself in an actual fight. No going easy, no rules, just a plain fight. If you can prove to me that you’ll do fine, I’ll help you look.” The young man ran his hand through his red hair and sighed quietly, letting the nearby help at the stable take his horse from him. “I swore that I’d never do this, but you’re too damn persistent...” Medios headed directly for the training room in the castle, making sure to not stray too far from his little sister in the process. “We’ll go over the basics of what you know. How to fight with a blade of your choice and then we’ll see your magic skills. After that, I’ll determine how you are in an actual fight. If you decide to start with an actual fight, that'll shorten the time we need to be in here instead of looking for a master for you.”   
  
Maria followed closely behind her big brother, an excited smile on her face as she walked into the training room only a few steps behind him, taking her time in deciding which weapon to use against Medios’ longsword. “It gives him a bit of reach as well as momentum to hit harder than most swords. While it is a bit slower than most, I know he’s quick and can swing his sword even faster. So, I’ll need to be agile and-”   
  
“Maria, let’s go!” Medios called her from the other side of the room, drawing his blade and holding it over his shoulder. “Tell me, do you want me to go easy on you to start? Or go all out?”   
  
“I’m afraid that if you don’t go all out, I’ll end up winning this too quickly.” Maria’s smile only grew as she picked up a pair of twin daggers, twirling them in her palm for a moment as she approached the young prince that was waiting ever so patiently. “Garex.” Wind started to swirl around the princess’s feet as she stared at her brother, a soft breath leaving her just before the wind under her feet exploded in intensity and sent her flying in his direction. “Magaru.” Her voice was quiet, reserved, and even focused as she stopped herself behind her brother.   
  
Of course, Medios was easily able to block from behind, simply moving his blade to cover his back instead of leaving it on his shoulder. “You can use the third tier and second tier back to back? I suppose I won’t be able to go easy on you, after all, dear sister.~” They both shared a quick glance as the wind magic dissipated along with the effect, leaving the prince able to attack without worry. “Masene.” From underneath the boy’s feet, the ground began to shake and rumble, splitting into equal sized rocks and floating in the air at his eyes level. The only part of Medios that was visible from behind was his lips as if he was singing. However, those rocks only stayed in place for a moment before systematically flying toward Maria and attempting to hit her.   
  
Instead of zapping herself of more magic, the young woman instead opted for deflecting as many of the stones as she could with her blades. Bringing her twin daggers to her face in a boxing position with the blades facing away from her, her red eyes seemed to shimmer as she started swatting away rock after rock, surprisingly not letting a single one slip through her defence as well. However, with the amount flying at her, Maria found herself having to slowly back herself away from her brother, step by step until her back hit the wall of the training room. “Tch.” Bringing the back of her hand to the wall she was against, the princess cast her next spell. “Senex!” The wall that she was now leaning against reached out into multiple platforms, both to surround her and prevent her from being hit and provide her with a place to charge at her brother from. The girl eagerly used the opening she had made, running along the pieces of wall that were still protruding out and heading toward Medios. “Sorry, Medios! I guess I should’ve expected you to use more than fire as well. I underestimated you a bit…”   
  
A smile came to the prince’s face as he simply danced around the pieces of wall that were heading in his direction, proud to see his little sister having grown from the scared little girl to a potential warrior in such a short amount of time. “It’s still not enough, though…” Jumping into the air, Medios landed on the same piece of wall that Maria was charging at him on, running at her with blade in hand and making the first swing at the left side of her stomach. Expecting her to block it, the prince made sure to swing as hard and as fast as he could in order to properly test her skills. Luckily, and unexpectedly, Maria jumped over his blade instead of blocking it, causing the young man to change direction mid-swing and aim up for her feet. Unfortunately, in doing so, his blade gave her the perfect platform to stand on for a just a moment. Looking into the blonde's eyes, he was able to see them flicker from red to white and back to red, as if she was channeling her summons instead of actually bringing them into their world. “Impressive, Maria… I didn’t even know Summoners could channel anything other than their own energy.”   
  
“It’s like a contract, in a way.” The young woman hopped off her brother’s sword the moment their piece of wall had made it across to the other side of the room and collided with it, combining with what was already there. “I tell them how much I need and of what and they provide it. If I say that I need them to come to our world with their incantation, then they will, no questions asked.” Maria smiled as she dropped her blades onto the ‘ground’ they were on and took a step closer to Medios, jabbing at his face and changing her fighting style from bladed to hand-to-hand. Unfortunately, before she was able to reach his face, the feeling of cold steel was immediately felt against her neck, meaning she had lost this bout between the two.   
  
“You’ve definitely improved from what I saw five years ago. Clearly, you’ve mastered the basics of at least Wind and Earth magic and are even practicing your Summoning magic. I still don’t think I should, but we’ll find you a teacher. Though, I’m not sure who there would even be to teach since Summoners are so rare…” Medios pulled his blade away from his sister’s neck and smiled, seeing a very thin trail of blood lead from under her chin down to the top of her dress. “Oh. By the way, if you’re going to change up your fighting stances or even styles on the fly, make sure to not make it so obvious. If you had kept one of your daggers by your neck like when you were defending yourself, this might’ve been your win.”   
  
“Really?!” The excited tone of Maria’s voice caused both of the siblings to chuckle as the results of their magic began to dissipate, leaving the room in the same state it was when they started their match. “I never thought I’d be able to beat you… But to hear you say that there was a chance… I’m not going to stop until I’m stronger than you.”   
  


Medios rolled his eyes as he sheathed his sword and put it back on the weapon’s rack. “Yeah, yeah. But, we need to find Mother and Father to let them know the results of your training. I’m sure they will be pleased with it.”   
  
  


**Scene 2: “In Search”**

  
  


Stepping into the throne room, where their father and mother always were due to people coming in and wanting to ask things of them, Medios and Maria stayed silent as they heard their father’s voice booming through the room. It was tough at first to pass through all the people who came to be in the throne room to watch King Jeremi and Queen Clara pass judgement on matters that were brought to them. But the two siblings managed to get through just fine after a moment as they heard their father talk. Their first clear view of their parents in at least a few days brought a smile to their faces, even if their lightly tanned father was just sitting with one leg crossed over the other in his blue robes with his crown on his head. Though, seeing their fair-skinned mother wearing her long red dress that clung to her curves caused their smile to grow as the woman casually waved to them.   
  
“For the last time, I’ve said that we cannot send troops to your farm to protect you from something that’s not even out there. The last time I sent my men out there, there was nothing there for two weeks. There is no need to cry wolf, so do not bother.”   
  
The two siblings shared a look with each other as they watched the farmer their father was talking to walk between them, a disgruntled look on the stranger’s face.   
  
“Ne-” The king paused as he noticed his two children walking up to the steps leading to the throne without warrant. “It’s you two. Is there something you need of us? You know that you can always wait until dinner if it’s important enough to be discussed without people around.” Jeremi leaned back in his throne, putting his elbow against the arm of it and bringing his head into his hand, letting the white hair on the left side of his head fill the space between his fingers. The look in his eyes was one of annoyance and irritation as he looked at his two children, silently waiting for them to respond.    
  
“What your father means to say is that if you’d rather discuss this in private, that it’d be best to wait until it’s time to eat together.” Their mother, Queen Clara, had a bright smile on her face as she leaned forward in her chair and made sure to at least look like she was paying attention to her children. “Though, that doesn’t mean we don’t like listening to your needs when you feel like bringing them to our attention.”   
  
“Mother, Father…” Maria started in a slow and hesitant voice, staring down at the ground and clenching her right fist as she knelt in kind, bringing her knees to the ground and putting her hands in her lap. Immediately, it was easy to hear all the gasps that filled the room from the crowd behind them, all of them surprised that the princess of all people was bowing. “I want to leave the castle for a few days and go to the armory. I have gained approval of my magic skills and want to grow stronger. Whether it’s me or Medios who inherit this kingdom, one of us has to be strong enough to protect it by the other’s side. He is plenty strong as is, but I need to improve if I am to be worthy of doing such a thing.”   
  
The king slowly rose out of his throne, walking down the steps in front of him until he was only two steps away from his little girl, incidentally towering over her with his massive height. “What the hell are you talking about, Maria? I’ve told you time and time again after the incident to not bother with magic. No matter what you want to believe, you are not going to be any-”   
  
“Father, she beat me in a duel.” Medios interrupted his father as he stepped between the grown man and his little sister, once again earning a unified gasp from the crowd that he was in front of. “She beat a captain that is five years her elder in a duel. Without using her Summoning abilities. I think at the very least, she is worth practicing magic. It would be best to have-”   
  
“I didn’t ask for your opinion, boy!” Jeremi clenched his fist, ready to throw a punch despite the crowd being able to see everything that was happening. “The very first time my daughter used her magic, she used a technique that our family has never been able to do before. Not even your mother’s grandfather. And now that she’s been training against my direct command, you want me to let her go find a tutor just because she was able to handle someone like you in a fight in our home? How is she going to fair in an actual fight? In the real world? On the outskirts where there are nations and tribes that we don’t know that fight differently than you were trained? What about then?! Do you want to send your sister-”   
  
“Honey!” Clara’s voice broke the shouting into silence as she remained in her throne, gesturing to her little girl that was on the verge of tears from the display. “Give her a chance. We’ll give final approval on who trains her, but it’s clear that she wants this. She was willing to disobey you to make it happen for the better of her people, after all. Would you really want to punish an honest heart like that?” The quiet woman, who was just as tall as her daughter, let out a soft chuckle as she stood from her throne and grabbed her red dress, lifting it slightly to properly walk down the steps before her. Though, the woman was quick to drop down to her daughter’s level and let her light red hair fall toward one side of her head as she tilted her head to the left. A soft sigh left the woman’s lips as she ran her thumb under her little girl’s tear-filled eyes. “Don’t cry, sweetheart. There’s only been one Summoner Captain in the recent history of Noron. If I remember correctly, his name was Damus de Faria.”   
  
“Damon.” Jeremi spoke up in a bit of a disgruntled voice.   
  
“Damon de Faria.” The blue-eyed woman glared at her husband, who turned away from her and avoided eye-contact. “He must still be somewhere in the kingdom. Though, I’d have no idea where. Go find him. I’m sure he’d be a far better teacher than what your father or I could find on our own.” Clara made sure to smile as her little girl leapt into her arms for just a brief but tight embrace. “Oh! No weapons out in town! Keep them in the training room, Medios!”   
  
The young prince nodded and smiled to his mother before turning and leaving the throne room without bothering to look at his father. “Come on, Maria. Let’s go find Damon and get your training started.” Medios smirked and stood at the exit of the room, watching his little sister run in his direction and only meeting his father’s eyes long enough to shoot him a glare worse than Clara did.   
  
“Don’t worry about it, Medios. We’ll find Damon and I’ll be able to get started training!” The princess gently pat her brother’s shoulder as she walked past him, heading into the hallway and directly toward the stable that was just outside the castle. As she approached her favorite white horse in the stable, Maria couldn’t help but smile and almost bounce in place as her excitement started to get to her now despite what happened with her father. “So, where do you think an ex-Captain would be?”   
  
“I hope I’m wrong, but he’s more than likely either at the brothel or at the bar. Places that I don’t want you walking into, okay?” Medios hopped onto his own brown steed and lead the way into town, listening for the galloping of Maria’s horse to make sure that she was keeping up with him. The trip into town was a short and silent one for the two, only having a short distance between their castle and the town around it. However, as the prince slowed his horse for the people, he was surprised to see people gathering around him to shake his hand but no one did it for his little sister. “Excuse me, could you possibly point us in the direction of where a man named Damon would be? We’re on the search for him to give Maria training.”   
  
Every eye that was gathered around her brother suddenly and slowly turned in her direction, causing a cold feeling to travel along the girl’s spine and make her shiver. “Please? I want to be able to protect this kingdom when it’s time for our generation to take over. And, whether it’s me or Medios to inherit the crown, I want both of us to be strong enough to keep you all safe!” Unfortunately, every eye that started to stare at her never moved away from her, even after confessing why they were looking for Damon. “Okay, I’m not an outcast! You don’t have to look at me like-”   
  
“You know, for a princess, you’re rather loud!” A young girl’s voice called out from the edge of the crowd. It seemed deep but high enough that the voice belonged to a girl the same age as Maria, bringing a slightly annoyed smile to her face. Unfortunately, the voice was only met with a man with wavy brown hair and one deep brown eye, the other having a scar along it and kept closed, wearing leather armor being the only thing visible from the top of it. Those eyes stared directly passed the princess, giving her another thing to feel nervous about as the voice popped back up, but his lips didn’t move. “People look at you like this because rumor has spread of the Summoner Princess. And everyone is waiting to see if it’s actually true or not!” Suddenly, a small girl with deep black hair and bright yellow eyes hopped onto the man’s shoulder, a small dragon with red scales and matching yellow eyes curled up on the top of her head.   
  
“And who might you be? I don’t recall ever seeing a dragon any of the times I’ve snuck out of the castle and gone into town.” Maria made sure to yell as to make sure the girl could hear her calling out.   
  
“You snuck out of the castle?! What if father found out?!”   
  
“He won’t. Trust me.” The princess stuck her tongue out and gently rubbed the back of her head as she looked back at the girl with a dragon on her head. “Fine… If I do this, you’ll all tell me where to find Damon de Faria.” The young girl took a deep breath and closed her eyes, pausing and opening them again a moment later, this time with the color of her eyes being a bright purple as she looked directly at the man and the young girl on his shoulder. “Fly from the sky and protect your treasure, Bahamut.”   
  
Everyone watched in silence as the girl’s eyes stayed purple but nothing happened other the area around them getting a bit darker, a few of them almost immediately starting to doubt that she was the real deal. All of them looked around to see absolutely nothing going on in the area they were standing in, a few of them even looking into the air. However, one gasp from someone looking into the air was enough to cause everyone else to look as well. Everyone other than the silent man and the girl that was accompanying him. Screams started to fill the road as Maria only giggled in response to it all, a sudden and loud roar filling everyone’s ears.   
  
Medios looked up as well after hearing the roar, gasping as he saw a large white dragon with what appeared to be red blood marks on its wings standing on all fours, using the rooftops as it’s footing. It took the prince another moment to notice the bright green eyes that accompanied the bright color of the dragon’s body, clashing against the massive shadow its body cast over everyone. “You… You can summon THAT?!”   
  
“Oh, Maria… It’s you again.” Bahamut’s head poked down between the buildings to get a good view of the young girl who had called him dozens of times now, even if for brief moments sometimes. “Did you need something again? Wanting to fly above the town? Maybe someone warm to crawl up against outside in the field? Or did you just want to prove a point like last time?”   
  
“Prove a point.~” The smiling princess giggled as the massive dragon stuck it’s tongue out and licked the side of her head, knowing that it was a form of affection from him. “Thanks, buddy! I promise that the next time I call you, I’ll make it interesting!~” Maria closed her eyes once again, Bahamut fading out of existence piece by piece as her eyes changed back to their normal red color. Once again, the blonde girl locked eyes with the black-haired girl that had a bright smile on her face, the shadow that had fallen over them fading away and showing off the blue earrings that sat under the nameless girl’s ears. “Was that enough proof for you that I’m able to-” The girl blinked as exhaustion overtook her, everything seeming to get heavy and slow as she leaned against her steed to steady herself.   
  
“You pushed yourself, Princess Maria.” The man wearing leather armor approached her, his deep and gentle voice echoing in her ears as a black cloth cloak over his left arm becoming visible as he stepped through the crowd, as well as the broadsword that was sheathed at his side. Holding out his hand, the man smiled and opened it and showed what appeared to be rock candy. “It’s medicine specialized for Summoners to help recover Energy. It’s not an instant fix, but it helps.” After the princess snatched the candy from his hand, the man bowed in front of her and forced the girl that was with him to do the same. “It seems you do need my tutoring after all.”   
  
“‘Your’ tutoring?” She asked with a mouthful of candy, immediately breaking her uptight aura. “Wait, are you..?”   
  
“The one and only Damon de Faria. And this mouthy girl with me is Karin. She is my current pupil. And you’re welcome to join her in training. You have a natural talent, after all.” The man stood back up straight and turned around, facing away from the royal siblings. “I’ll be on the outskirts of town at sunset with Karin. If you find us by the bar, you’re more than welcome to come and train with us. It’d be an honor to have someone like you with us.”   
  
“See you tonight, Princess!~” Karin walked backward in the same direction that her mentor was headed, facing Maria and giggling as her tiny dragon roared at the royal girl. “Oh, and make sure to bring a weapon of some kind! Training can get a bit intense!~”

  
  


**Scene 3: “New Faces”**

  
  


“Maria, how are we going to get out of the castle without the guards finding you and forcing us to bring you back? I’m a different case because I’ve roamed the streets of the town at night for years now, but you haven’t so much as left the castle without being accompanied.” Medios watched his little sister open her mouth to say something against that comment, only to sigh and shake his head. “Sneaking out doesn’t count, Maria. If it does, I would’ve left the castle my first time when I was five.” The prince chuckled as the two approached the stable with the sun now setting behind them. “Crap. It’s almost time to meet them at the bar at the edge of town.”   
  
Taking a deep breath, the princess closed her eyes and focused for a moment, debating on which spirit to summon that would be the best to keep them hidden as they rushed over to meet Damon. “Come forth and howl at the moon, Jack.” Opening her eyes, her usual red color was now a dull but clear gold color, a gust of wind rushing by them only for a humanoid werewolf to be standing in front of them. Though, with the setting sun, it was hard to see the beast’s gray fur and missing left eye, despite it being easy to see him standing on two feet. Maria smiled as she saw an old companion once again come to her aid for something. “Hey. We need a ride to the edge of town while staying discreet. I used to ride on your back all the time after the incident. Do you think you’ll be able to take both of us?”   
  
Opening his mouth to speak, Jack’s voice came out low and distorted, almost broken into pieces. Though, it also seemed almost happy to see the princess again. “Not a chance. I can barely carry you at top speed now, let alone two of you.” Closing his mouth, towering figure got down on all fours and pushed his left leg slightly behind his right, digging his toes into the ground and looking at Prince Medios instead of Maria. “You must be the prince that Maria always talked about. You can ride on your horse. If reason stands, no one will question you at night considering you are five years her elder. I’ll take her and run along the rooftops.”   
  
Medios just stared into the werewolf’s bright white eye that seemed to just be one solid color, letting out a heavy breath as it began to sink in just how much his little sister was practicing this magic that had nearly put her life in danger only a few years ago. “Maria, we’re going to have a serious talk about all these summons you can do and how much you’ve practiced. But that will wait until we get back from the training.”   
  
Maria got off her horse and quickly tied him into the stable, kissing the side of its head before climbing on Jack’s back. “I guess I’m in trouble, huh, big guy?” Almost immediately, the group took off back towards town, rushing as quickly as they could until the first building approached.   
  
With a smile clearly visible on his snout, the werewolf bent his knees as far down as he could, grinding into the ground and slowing himself down as they approached the structure. “Hold on tight!” The feeling of his fur being grabbed onto as tightly as the princess was able was all the signal he needed to know he could jump. Springing off the ground with all fours, Jack launched both himself and Maria into the air, clearing the one-story building with ease and almost silhouetting himself in the moon as he came back down and landed on the stand of the roof of the building on the other side, using his claws to stay still on it while building up strength in his arms. “Now’s where the fun starts!~”   
  
“What do you mean…?” Maria asked, almost afraid of what was about to happen as she looked around and saw nothing but slanted rooftops around them that all came to a point. It took a moment, but the princess realized exactly what was going to happen if her summon rushed himself on these rooftops. “Just make it quick and be careful. This is rather draining…” Closing her eyes and bringing a hand to her head to cover her right eye, the young girl felt her summon jump from one building to the next, never missing a beat or a step as he gradually got faster and faster by bouncing from roof to roof. Eventually, the girl had to close both of her eyes and tilt her head upward to look toward the sky. “Jack… How far are we from the edge of town?”   
  
“Three more buildings! Hang on Maria!” Medios’ voice echoed from below the summon and his master, calling their attention only long enough to let them know just how far they were. He wasn’t going to say anything, but the young prince was able to see Jack’s body starting to fade away as they bounced, wondering if it was because of the extreme stress that his sister was incidentally putting on the spirit. “This isn’t good…”   
  
Finally, the last building before the bar came into view and instead of making another jump onto the bar, the werewolf grabbed onto the edge of the rooftop he landed on, spinning himself around and dropping to the ground. With a thud that was very audible inside of the tavern, the beast landed on his hind legs and smiled as he set Maria on the ground. “Awhooo!~ Jack started bouncing in place for a moment as Damon and Karin stepped out from the tavern to see what was going on. “That was more tiring than I expected, but it was incredibly fun! Be sure to call me again when you need something, Princess. Even if it’s just to go for a run.~”   
  
Damon sighed as he approached the girl that quickly dropped to her knees and waved the summon off with her right hand, her eyes returning to their normal red as well. “Damn, kid… At least someone like me is close by when you pull stunts like this. Was using Jack to run here from the castle the best idea?” Holding his hand out from the cloak that covered it, a smile came to the ex-captain’s face. “Here.” Once again, he was carrying that rock candy from earlier in town, this time a ring with a blue gemstone visible on his middle finger. “I didn’t know you can summon more than one type of spirit. Must be pretty special to do that. Though, it’s not entirely uncommon among those who are summoners.”   
  
Maria shook her head and pushed the candy away, taking a deep breath and using the tavern’s wall outside to help stand on her own two feet. “I’m alright… Just put too much stress on Jack while making him run.” The young girl chuckled and leaned against the wall after hearing the ‘special’ comment. “Is that so? I guess that means you have more reason to train me, then.” The blonde let out a soft huff before getting on her own two feet and seeing her older brother turn the corner on his horse. “Oh… We must’ve left him behind, huh?”   
  
“Man, you really are kinda stupid, aren’t you?” Karin stomped her foot as she stepped in front of Maria, catching her attention and holding out a piece of that rock candy herself. “Eat it. Even one helps more than you’d expect.” A soft smile came to the black-haired girl’s face as she watched the princess take the candy and pop it into her mouth. “But, Master’s right. Being able to summon multiple kinds of spirits isn’t rare among summoners, but it promises great talent and adaptability by those that can do it.” The girl smiled as she looked up and smiled at her dragon who roared at her. “Yeah, yeah. I know. She’s definitely got something about her that makes me want to get to know her a bit too.~”   
  
Medios slowly got down off his horse and held tightly to the reigns as he walked over to Maria and the group. “I know you were running yourself a bit fast, but you don’t have to leave me behind, Maria. What if you had fallen or something worse happened like you got stuck on a rooftop?”   
  
“Heh. Sorry, Brother. But, we made it.” Maria got off the wall now and stood on her own two feet with a soft smile. “Maybe it’s from everything that’s happened today. Sparring with you, summoning Bahamut, and then summoning Jack. It’s a bit exhausting.” The two siblings shared a quick look with each other before smiling and nodding in unison, as if something unspoken was confirmed between them.   
  
“Well, now that that’s out of the way, let me give you a gift, Maria. As acceptance into my tutelage.” Damon pulled a blue heart-shaped pendant from under his cloak and held it in front of Maria. “These blue gemstones are what’s been commonly called a ‘Summoner’s Stone.’ They help regulate the magic output needed during summoning. Basically, they help you use less Energy during a summon. So, it can last longer and lowers the risk of a Fracture.”   
  
“Fracture?” Medios and Maria both looked at the man with a slightly puzzled look, only for Karin’s dragon to hop off her head and fly around in their faces.   
  
“A Fracture is what happens when a summon drains too much of a Summoner’s Energy.” Karin started, a smile and a bit of a know-it-all look on her face as she held her hand in the air for Damocles to land on. “Instead of being just unable to move or use magic like when you’re exhausted after using too much earth magic, a Fracture lets the spirit you have summoned attempt to take over your mind. Of course, it takes a very long time for it to be able to happen, but there is always a chance if you drain too much energy. Luckily, you’ve been smart today and left yourself plenty of energy on reserve every time we’ve seen you with a summon.”   
  


Maria audibly gulped as she looked into the girl’s yellow eyes, processing the information that was just told to her. Without hesitation, she quickly reached for the pendant that was dangling in her face and put it around her neck, watching the blue gem sparkle in the last remnants of sunlight. “That’s why you have those earrings and ring.”   
  
“Yeah. And you now have the pendant, but that can’t be all you wanted to meet us for.” Medios seemed a bit rushed as he spoke, the adrenaline of the long ride still coursing through him a bit as he admired the blue sparkle everyone had. “I mean, what does your training entail? Where should we meet you each day for her to train?”   
  
“Meet me? Oh, you think that the training takes place in town…” The older man brought a hand to the back of his head and smiled softly, looking toward the ground before looking into the prince’s eyes. “Sorry, Kid. My training takes place in the wild. Of course, not too far. We’ll just be in the forest that’s on the other side of the tavern. It helps more than training in a castle because of the natural elements at play. Also, the fact of not having to work around someone else’s schedule to train your pupil.” Damon looked over at Karin and gestured towards the tavern. “Look. I can make you a promise that I have the resources and capabilities to keep her from having a Fracture, but if she really wants me to be her tutor, you need to leave her under my care. Being a princess and all, I imagine it’s not a simple choice, but-”   
  
“I’ll do it.” Maria spouted out, that same look of determination in her eyes that was there when she trained with Medios showing. “I’ll go with you.”   
  
“Maria, what are you talking about? I can’t let you go with him… Who knows just how intense it’s going to be for you? And with the risk of being taken over by one of your spirits… I can’t allow that.” The young man paused and tried to find the words that would resonate better with her. “I’m worried about my little sister, and we don’t even know how Mother and Father would feel about such a thing. Are we just going to ignore our own parents?” Medios looked at his little sister, worry still filling his mind as he took a breath to try and calm himself, knowing how important this was to her but also knowing the risks.

 

After a moment of silence in the group spent trying to steel his heart, the prince brought his hand to his chest and kept it there, looking right into the girl’s red eyes. He had to talk her out of it or risk losing her, something he never wanted. “Come on. We’ll find you another instructor that can teach you the proper ways to use your magic. I’m sure there has to be-”   
  
“Medios…” Maria wrapped her arms around her brother and buried her head into his chest, smiling brightly as she held him tight in her arms. “I’ll be fine. I’ll even write home as often as I can and even stop by to visit if training doesn’t take all day. I want to do this, hell, I need to do this.” The young princess pulled back from her brother just before feeling his arms wrap around her, that smile still present on her face. “It’s either this or prove to Father that my magic is pointless. So, I’m going through with this…”   
  
The young prince could easily see the resolve in his sibling’s eyes as he looked at her, knowing that no matter how hard he tried, she would just keep arguing it and even possibly ignore him completely. Looking at Damon, Medios let out a soft huff and looked directly into the man’s brown eye. “You keep my sister safe. You train her as you see fit, but if she is being pushed too hard, you stop and let her rest. If I hear word about her having suffered from a Fracture or anything else that can come from this, I will personally see to your execution. Do I make myself clear Damon de Faria?”

 

Damon could easily hear the serious nature of the boy’s tone, knowing better than to argue and risk turning this into some royal family dispute. “Crystal, Your Highness. I’ll even dedicate some time to her training to allow her to write back home if you so choose.”   
  
Maria hugged her brother tightly in her arms once again, smiling before stepping over to Damon and letting out a soft sigh. That look of determination was immediately replaced with understand and sympathy for her brother, tears in the corner of her eyes, as she watched him get back on her horse. “Next time I see you, I’ll easily be able to beat you in a fight, Brother!!”   
  
The girl’s voice echoed through the small area they were in, bringing a smile to the prince’s lips just as Karin was coming back out from the tavern. “Good. I look forward to seeing the warrior you become, Sister.” Turning his horse around, the young man galloped back in the direction of the castle, leaving the trio alone.   
  
“Are you going to be okay, Maria? If you want, I can give you more time to go back home and talk this over properly.” Damon tucked his hand back under his cloak and turned around to head into the forest on the other side of the tavern, not walking anywhere just yet in case Maria did choose to run back home.   
  
“No. I need this. Talking it over with my family would only amount to Father getting angry and placing guards around us, Mother getting upset with him and Medios getting caught in the middle. I don’t want that.” Looking to the ground, Maria did her best to fight back the tears that were starting to fully form in her eyes from the brief farewell that just didn’t feel like enough. Bringing a hand to her hip, she silently made sure that she had brought her twin daggers with her. “Damon…”   
  
“Hm?” The older man tilted his head to the side, looking at the girl one last time as he waited to hear what she wanted. “Something on your mind?”   
  
Closing her eyes, the young princess let the first tear fall from her eyes and to the ground, clenching her first as she tried to steel her heart. “I want to be able to defend my brother the next time I see him. I want to be stronger than him before I look back. You can make that happen, right?”   
  
“I’m only a teacher, Maria. You already have the skill. I’m just going to teach you how to properly use it.” Damon smiled over at Karin and Damocles, ignoring the fact that Maria was now wiping the tears from her eyes. “So, yes, Maria. I’ll be able to make it happen.”   
  
“Good. Then let’s go train.” Turning around, the young princess took her first step towards improving, smiling as the blue pendant bounced with her each step. Sharing a quick glance with Karin, a giggle left both of the girls’ lips as Damocles hopped onto her blonde head and curled into her hair.

  
  


**Part 2**

**Scene 1: “First Pick”**

 

Waking up at the crack of dawn was nothing new for Maria, but waking up with a forest surrounding her on all sides other than a large patch that had been clearly cut down to make for a campsite was. Bringing a hand over her mouth as she let out a loud yawn, the young princess looked at the surrounding area in silence, trying to find Damon and Karin in her slightly blurry vision. Taking a moment to rub her eyes and stand up from the ground, this time seeing no one around her once again. “What…? I coulda sworn I came here with Damon and Karin last night… Did they wake up and leave me behind as some kind of test…?”   
  
The young girl was only met with the chirping of birds, the sound of leaves whisking back and forth in the wind, and the quiet and slightly distant sound of a waterfall to her right. Looking in the direction of the waterfall, Maria was met with the sight of Damocles flying in circles in the air. At least that was a sign that Karin was close by. “Damocles!~” The young princess took her first real step into her new life as a Student Summoner and froze in place, something overtaking her and placing doubt in her mind that everyone was in that direction just because Damocles was there. Quickly spinning around to face the other way, the blonde was met with the sight of her new friends sitting by a small campfire, both of them eating what appeared to be freshly caught and cooked fish. There was even two more fish on sticks roasting over the fire, causing her to think that they were for her. “You two started without me….?”   
  
“You had a hard day yesterday…” Damon started, taking about bite out of his fish and smiling as he chewed on it. “I figured it’d be best to let you sleep for awhile longer before we started training.” The older man pointed to a spot next to him with his stick that his fish was on as he finally finished the bite he had taken. “Come and sit. You’re going to want to eat before we get started training.   
  
Karin, on the other hand, watched with a soft smile as her new friend approached the fire in slow steps, noticing that her little dragon was close behind her. “Damocles, come eat. We caught one for you too.” The yellow-eyed girl chuckled as her dragon roared at her and flew over to the fire, landing on the stick that his fish was on, chewing away at it. “So, Maria. You’re going to be learning with us now, right?”   
  
“Yeah. I’ll be here with you… Though, I have to admit that I didn’t expect to be immediately dropped into a forest.” Taking a quick look around her to see the others just taking a bite out of the fish that was on their stick, Maria did her best to imitate them, trying to appear like she had done something like this before. “Or that someone as seasoned as Damon de Faria wouldn’t have proper cooking equipment for a campfire.” Bringing her other hand to her chest and gently holding the blue pendant she never took off in her fingers, Maria smiled as she swallowed down the bite she took. “Thank you for taking me under your wing, though. I don’t want any special treatment just because I’m royalty. I’m just a student here to get stronger.”   
  
“Well, that’s good.~” Damon smirked and tossed his stick into the fire, standing up and cracking his neck. “I wasn’t going to go easy on you either way other than this morning, but since I’ve got permission to be as rough as I feel is needed, then you can expect things to get a bit tougher from here on out.” The man leaned forward and started drawing in the dirt, making a four by five grid and writing “agi”, “mal”, “sene”, “grav”, and “garu” in the top row of five. “Though, for now, you should go over the basics of what you know and what you can do before we get started. We have to know what to improve on, after all.” As he spoke, Damon wrote in “Ma” off to the side of the grid as well as “Ex” and “Y”. “So, Princess. Tell me what you know about the tiers of magic. Coming from a family like yours, I expect that you at least know the basics.”   
  
“Well, I know of the three tiers of magic spells. Agi for fire, Mal for ice, Sene for earth, Grav for gravity, and Garu for wind. Just call out the word for the base level of each type of spell. ‘Ma’ is the second tier of magic. Magi, Malma, Masene, Grava, and Magaru respectively cover the second tier of magic. The third tier is known as the ‘Ex Tier. Agex, Malex, Senex, Gravex, and Garex cover that tier.” The girl paused and looked at the ‘Y’ that was on the corner of the grid that was dawn into the dirt, taking another bite of her fish and pondering what it could mean. “I’ve never been taught anything about what that ‘Y’ stands for, though.” Maria swallowed down her bite and looked over at Karin for an answer. “Is it some tier of magic that’s almost as rare as summoning?”   
  
“Close, but not exactly. It’s a tier of magic that combines different elements of magic.” The black-haired girl smiled and giggled as her pet flew back to the top of her head and cooed down at her, her eyes still locked on Maria. “Imagine combining wind and fire magic. What do you think you would get out of that? A tornado of fire? A flame that travels through the air like it’s riding a gust of wind? Maybe even just some very hot and annoying wind. With the ‘Y’ tier of magic, all of that is possible.” Karin reached up and gently pet the top of her dragon’s head, opening her mouth to speak only for Damon to take over.   
  
“She’s right. And many of us use it without noticing, causing the tier to be completely ignored nowadays.” Damon looked over at Karin and noticed her staring daggers at him, chuckling and drawing in the dirt once again. “Let me ask you something, Maria. I’ve sure you’ve trained with your brother in the past, correct?” Looking up at the princess just in time to see her nod, the man pulled his finger from the dirt and smiled. “Has he ever used magic that seemed to fly through the air instead of just appearing in place?”   
  
Maria thought back through all the times she had seen her brother using magic before, remembering that just before her first summon, she had seen something similar. “It was only for a moment, but he caught my wooden sword on fire with Agi and then used Magi to make the flame grow. When I dropped my sword and ran to the side, the flame seemed to follow me. It was only for the first step I took, though. I thought it was just the flames getting stronger still.”   
  
“They were, but if it was only for a moment, that means that even Prince Medios doesn’t know how to use this tier of magic. Either that or he was going extremely easy on you.” Damon shrugged and pointed back to the grid he had made, making sure the girls now saw “AgYsene”, “AgYru”, and “AgYrav” all written out in the grid. “Just like with natural elements, your magic gets stronger when combined with certain other types. Now, what makes this tier different than all the others is that it drains your Energy far more immensely than the others do. If I had to say from the ground up… Think of the base tier as the number one. The second and third tiers would be two and three, right?” The ex-Captain paused to make sure that the girls were still paying attention and listening to what he had to say. “The final tier would be a six on that scale.”   
  
Maria’s eyes went wide as she listened to her master, processing everything he was saying, but still partially stuck on why he wrote a combination of fire and ice. “Damon… Energy consumption aside, why is there a combination of fire and ice? The two elements don’t work together, even in nature.”   
  
“Agymal.” Damon put his hand into the campfire the trio was sitting around, watching it immediately freeze over in a near translucent blue but still able to see the fire dancing around inside of it, his hand inside of the ice as well. “You’re right, Maria. But the reason these two work is basically by trapping one element in the other. As you can see, the fire is still lit and burning inside of the ice. Why do you think that is?”   
  
“Could it be that there’s just a thick layer of ice around the fire?” Karin asked, curiosity and interest taking over as she stared at the spot where Damon’s wrist was captured by the ice still.   
  
Pulling his hand out of the ice and shattering it, the man watched as the ice fell to the ground, individual flames in each piece of ice that hit the ground. “No. You create both at once. You need to have a bit of an open imagination for combinations that deal with opposites, but for this, I made a shell of ice to contain and accept the flames. And as we talked, I formed more ice inside of it that made everything into sections before it shattered. Though, your idea isn’t a bad one, either.”   
  
Both Karin and Maria shared a quick look with each other before letting out a deep and slightly frustrated sigh. “Nope!” The two called out in unison with their eyes closed. “Don’t get it.”   
  
Maria tilted her head to the sky, keeping her eyes closed but bringing her hand vertically into the air as well. “Agyru.” In the next moment, a heavy wind left the girl’s hand in a spiral with flames following, creating a large but thin tornado of fire from her hand just like Karin had mentioned earlier when the tier was brought to her attention. Opening her soft red eyes, the princess smiled and silently cheered herself on for being able to do something like this. Closing her hand, the wind and flames dissipated from the air and fell toward the ground around them, vanishing into thin air before reaching the ground. “That… Surprisingly didn’t feel like it took too much Energy out of me.”   
  
“It’s because you have a monstrous amount of it, Maria.” Karin commented, leaning back in her seat and watching Damocles crawl around her neck and go from shoulder to shoulder, his small tail swishing back and forth with each step. “Not only did you train with your brother, which I imagine was a bit intense, you also summoned twice in the same day and even used one to carry you, which puts enormous amounts of stress and strain on your Energy.” The yellow-eyed girl let out a soft sigh and chuckled to herself as Damocles finally hopped off of her shoulders and found a spot in her lap to rest in. “All of that in one day, with I’m sure what was very little of an actual break to rest and recharge, and you didn’t suffer from a Fracture, or even have a Summoner’s Stone like Damon and I do.”   
  
“She’s right, Maria. I don’t know what kind of training you did on your own, or what you did during your life once you discovered you could summon, but you pushed your Energy to a limit that is probably on par with mine when I’m at my best.” Damon stood up and smiled as he brought a hand to his neck and cracked it. “Alright. With the magic knowledge out of the way, let’s get on with the practice of it.” Turning around and taking a few steps away from the area the group was eating in, the grown man gestured for the girls to come close. “Alright. Stand up and summon whoever you want and are most comfortable with. We’re going to be practicing specialties today.”   
  
“Well, let’s get started and slither our way into some trouble, Serpent.~” Karin smirked as she stood up from her place on the ground, taking a few steps and bringing her right hand toward the ground only for a massive white snake with black markings in the shape of burn marks to slither by her side, about as thick as her leg and three times as long as her body slowly wrapping around her as she stopped walking. The black-haired girl stuck her left hand out towards Damon and watched as Damocles jumped onto her hand, her yellow eyes turning silver as Serpent rested himself on the top of her hand. “Dammit, Serpent! I thought I told you that you were too heavy for that!!” Karin kept a light-hearted voice as she complained to Serpent, stomping her foot in place to try and make the vibrations from her own body reach him.   
  
“You know that I have nothing to do with that, Lady Karin.~” The snake’s voice was quiet, almost monotone, and deep while remaining completely undistorted. “But who are these two that you’re with? He’s not the man I saw you with last time you summoned me…” Serpent’s head went back and forth between Damon and Maria, almost as if he was analyzing them both right then and there in secret. “They interest me, though…”   
  
“Good for you, but you are to leave that man out of this, Serpent. He’s no longer on my mind, so keep him out of yours.” Karin flicked the massive snake that was coiled around her and still resting on the top of her head, annoyance in her tone as she spoke to him. “And don’t bring him up again. Damon and Maria are here for us now.” The silver-eyed girl saw Serpent’s mouth open like he was going to speak, only to close it again as Maria stood up next. “Something’s on your mind again…”   
  
“Come on out, Dick. Let’s make sure we get the bullseye today.” Maria’s red eyes immediately shifted into a very pale white as she stood up in place and brought a hand to her hip, a smile forming on her lips as a gloved hand found its way onto her left. Turning to look behind her, the princess was able to see a hooded figure standing behind her with glowing white eyes to match her own. “Still not going to show me your face, are you? That’s a bit rude, don’t you think?”   
  
“Maybe it is, but I never said that I was here for your amusement, Miss Maria.” The hooded figure’s voice was upbeat and almost playful while maintaining a sense of obedience, even as he closed both of his glowing white eyes and left his face completely hidden under his hood. Reaching his hand out past the girl’s shoulder, a wooden bow seemed to materialize in Dick’s hand, a quiver appearing on both his and Maria’s backs. “Though, I’m willing to help you when you call for me, Princess.”   
  
“That’s very thoughtful of you, Dick.” Maria stepped to the figure’s side and looked over at Damon, who appeared to be analyzing his two students and their relationships with their summons. “So, what’s next, Damon?”   
  
“I want you two to spar. No weapons to avoid any incidents.” Bringing a hand to his chin, the man mentally noted how both appeared to be playful and almost family to the summons they brought around, especially Maria. “She was like this with Jack and Bahamut as well… Just what is this girl to the spirits…?” Moving the hand from his chin to the back of his head, Damon sighed and pushed the thought aside for now, deciding to talk to the spirits that were summoned next. “Dick, Serpent, as your summoner’s master, I want you two to follow their orders. But, keep your instincts and skill in check. I want no deaths and no lasting injuries. Today is just a test to see what the two are capable of, do I make myself clear?”   
  
Serpent looked down from his perch on Karin’s head at Maria before turning to Damon to answer him. “Of course.~”   
  
Dick brought his bow to his back and wrapped it around himself, letting the string press against his chest but keeping the quiver on Maria’s back as he kept his eyes on Serpent. “Crystal.”

 

“Good! Lower end magic is allowed to be used as well, just keep your powers in check!” Damon took about ten steps back, giving the girls plenty of space to sparr in. “When you’re ready, you may start!” It brought a smile to his face to see the two girls immediately share a look of determination and promise as they turned to face each other properly.

 

**Scene 2: “First Attempt”**

 

“Don’t go easy on her, Serpent. We’re here to win and grow stronger each day, don’t forget that.~” Karin took three steps back from where she was standing, stopping with her right foot on her toes like she was getting ready to make a dash toward her opponent. A cocky smile came to the girl’s face as she dropped down to her knees and put her fingers onto the ground, her black hair unable to keep up as she starting things off quickly. “Sene.” The word quietly left her lips as the ground under her feet started to shift, propelling her forward at incredible speeds, Serpent slithering down her body and wrapping itself around the protruding piece of ground that pushed his summoner toward their opponent.   
  
Instead of waiting and giving Karin a chance to try anything or get ahead at the start of the sparring session, Maria simply pushed her foot forward and repeated the same earth spell, a smile on her face. “Sene.~” Without moving any more than that first step, a wall of earth sprouted up between her and Karin, her smile remaining as she pulled her arm and twisted her body, ready to throw a punch at the wall that separated the two of them. “Dick, flank left, I’ll cover for you.”   
  
“On it.” Putting his bow away and running to the left around the wall that was in front of Karin, the archer instead skipped the young girl and headed directly toward her summon, putting everything else out of his mind as he grabbed the corner of the snake’s mouth, yanking Serpent off of the hardened rock that seemed to have stopped moving now. “Hope you don’t plan on going anywhere, Serpent.”   
  
“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep Lady Karin safe from harm.” Serpent immediately unhinged his jaw and started attempting to swallow Dick’s arm, creeping along it and not stopping until he reached the cloaked man’s neck. “Even if that means I have to get rid of another spirit!”   
  
“Garu!” Two voices called out in unison, both having an equal sense of excitement in their tones.

 

Both summons turned to see which one had called it, ready to witness their summoner on top with an easy and decisive victory over the other. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case as a small tornado ripped the wall between the girl’s apart, leaving them staring at each other with a smile on their faces. Though, Karin was the first one to make a move, jumping off of the hardened earth that she was propping herself on and diving toward the princess. Fortunately, she moved too quickly for Maria to properly react, knocking them both to the ground and throwing a punch that just barely missed the blonde’s head. “Fuck!” Almost immediately, the pain of punching tough dirt radiated through the black-haired girl’s arm, knocking her out of her own rhythm long enough for Maria to take advantage of the moment.   
  
Pulling her knees between her and Karin, the princess shoved the girl up off of her just enough to get her feet properly against the other girl’s thighs. Taking in a deep breath, Maria pushed the yellow-eyed girl off of her with her feet and once against cast another spell with the very little bit of distance between the two of them. “Agi!” Opening her mouth, the blonde blew flames from her mouth at the other girl, cupping a hand around her lips to make sure she was pointed in the right direction.   
  
“Huh. Her reaction and instincts are good, that’s for sure. I wonder just what she’s done since she started using magic…” Damon brought a hand to his chin as he watched Karin catch herself and sprint to the right, getting out of the way of the flames and running toward Dick and Serpent. “Trying to use a shield to get a moment to breathe. I’ve taught her well, but she’s made a mistake of including her own summon in that shield.” The man chuckled and watched the flames stop just a Dick vanished from around them, narrowing his eyes as he watched Maria stand to her feet, panting as if she was already pushing herself to the edge of her limits. “Come on, you’ve got more Energy in you than that. You couldn’t be close running low, yet. Unless…”   
  
Smiling as she looked past Serpent over at Maria, Karin could feel the win just a few more steps away. An easy hit, an easy win, and bragging rights until their next sparring session. But something was off about the princess. “Her eyes are still white… Why are your eyes white?! You’re out on Energy! Don’t tell me that you’re willing to risk-”   
  
“A warrior never gives up no matter how hard she pushes herself!” Maria’s voice was different than usual, as if it was lower or she had grown older in a split second since Dick had vanished. “Or, at least that’s what Joan has taught me up until now.” Straightening herself out and standing flat on her feet, the princess brought one hand to her eye level and clenched it into a first, keeping the other one near her chest but also making a fist with it.    
  
“You’re Channeling a different summon!? Come on!” Sliding her foot forward, Karin grit her teeth and gestured for Serpent to get closer to Maria. “Sene. Garu. Serpent, get as close to her as you can! I’ll deliver the final blow!” As she called out to her summon, a strong gust of wind started blowing behind her, pushing her toward the princess faster than she’d normally be able to run, Serpent riding on top of shifting rocks beside her. “Once you get a hold of her, I’ll go in for the win.”   
  
“Understood.” Keeping his sight on the princess that was still standing there in that same position, Serpent slithered as close as he was able to, raising his head and ready to wrap around her leg to lock her in place while Karin kept running at them. “I’ve got you now.”   
  
“Girls! Keep in mind that you can use magic on whatever weapon you’re using at the time, not just as weapons themselves!” Damon’s voice rang through both of the girl’s minds, their smiles only growing as Maria picked up her foot and stomped on Serpent’s head.

 

Karin, on the other hand, took another step and stopped within arm’s reach of the princess. “Agyru.” Throwing a punch at Maria’s face, knowing she was fast enough to dodge it, flames sprouted from the black-haired girl’s face, her fair skin staying its natural shade of white and not burning.   
  
Unfortunately, despite being able to dodge the original movement of the attack, Maria was unable to move fast enough to get out of the way of the gust of wind that rushed from Karin’s punch. Fire easily stung at her cheeks as she jumped back as far as she could, stopping and staring at the silver-eyed girl before closing an eye and bringing a hand to her face to put out the small flames that still licked at her cheeks. “Dammit…”   
  
“Grav!”   
  
Opening the eye she had previously closed, the very moment the flames dispersed from her cheeks, a sudden weight befell Maria, almost yanking her toward the ground and knocking the wind out of her system as she landed flat on her stomach. A loud and distressed noise left the blonde as she tried to push herself off the ground, her golden locks sticking to the dirt as if they had been hammered down, making her unable to get off the ground. “No… Not like this… I don’t want to lose like this!” Turning her head to glare at Karin, fire in her heart and her mind ready to spring to action but her body just incapable, the princess’s eyes turned a bright purple, meaning she was getting ready to summon a dragon to her side. “Come forth and turn-”   
  
“That’s enough!” Damon’s voice broke through the incantation that Maria was in the middle of, walking towards the girls and looking at Karin to dispel her gravity magic. “Karin is the victor of this sparring match.” The man bent down to look into the princess’s eyes the moment the gravity magic was no longer able to be felt, gently taking hold of her chin to turn her to properly face him. A smile came to his face as he noticed her eyes were no longer purple and back to their natural red. “Good. You at least know when to stop.”   
  
“I guess I win this time, Maria.~” Karin stuck her tongue out to the princess before walking closer, the silver in her eyes fading away and turning back to yellow as Serpent slowly vanished as well. The black-haired girl stuck her hand out to help Maria up off the ground, happily pulling the girl to her feet. “You did great, though. Only Damon has ever pushed me to use gravity magic before.” Karin let out a quiet giggle as she turned to look at the surrounding area, seeing the rocks protruding from the ground that she had left as well as the now shattered wall along with its pieces that Maria had caused. “I hate using gravity magic, even if it is one of the more useful elements.”   
  
“Well… I didn’t want to stop, but once I started challenging Joan, things started to drain faster and faster. I knew I had to make a bold move or I was going to lose. Guess I was just too slow, though.” Maria looked toward the ground and brought a hand to her hip, letting out a heavy breath before picking her head back up and looking at Karin. “Congrats on the win, though!”   
  
“You both did well for girls your age. Hell, I don’t even think I had the imagination to channel a summon when I was your age, Maria. Or use earth magic to propel myself forward. Or build a wall with it that I was just going to destroy with wind magic.” Damon chuckled as he turned away from the girls and headed toward their campfire. “Though, I definitely never would’ve thought to use my own fist as weapons for fire magic. Bold move, Karin.”   
  


“Thank you!~”

  
  
**Scene 3: “Next Step”**

  
  


“Do you two know why I took you on as my students?” Damon asked as he sat back down by the fire, a smile on he brought a hand to his neck and cracked it again. “You both have talent and potential beyond measure of natural born fighters. Take myself or Medios for example. Both of you have instincts and comprehension of your magic that is beyond the time when I was your age.” Turning back around and facing the two young girls that were leaning on each other as they walked back toward him. “Like I said, I never would’ve thought of the things you did as snap decisions during a fight. When I was your age, I would’ve been happy just getting off some wind magic that did tons of damage.”   
  
Maria was the first to sit down, her hold on Karin making the black-haired girl into her lap before knocking them both on the ground only a few steps from the fire itself. Both of the girls laughed together, almost ignoring Damon until they heard the older man clear his throat. “S-Sorry…” They both spoke in unison as they got comfortable around the fire.   
  
“But what do you mean that we are better than natural born fighters? Neither of us were, or, at the very least, I wasn’t.” Karin spoke up as she looked over at her mentor, scraping her foot into the dirt as a soft blush came to her cheeks. “I was just a little girl who was scared of magic until I summoned Serpent the first time…”   
  
“Well, look at what you’ve done since you got to me. You’ve grown a mastery over your earth magic that beats the standard for most captains back in my day, you’ve honed on your Energy usage when it comes to summoning, and even found the instincts of a fighter locked deep inside of you. You came to me and told me you were from a village called Haven, looking for an instructor to teach you to fight. How much of that do you think is directly my fault, Karin?” Damon spoke softly as he reached a hand behind him and leaned back on it, starting the young girl down. “I only taught you the basics of magic and Energy usage. Everything else is all you.” The man gestured toward Maria and chuckled, much like with Maria here.”   
  
“Wha-? Me?” Maria quickly brought a hand to her chest, confused about what her mentor was saying now. “What am I going to do? I mean, I’ve taught myself everything I know about magic. Other than history and different types and everything like that.” The blonde rested her elbow on her knee and her chin into the palm of her hand, gazing into the distance and thinking about everything she’s done since the incident. “Well, my brother did teach me the basics of fighting thanks to Father and Mother. Well, more thanks to Mother for being how she is. But, even then, it was only how to use a sword and swing it. Otherwise, I taught myself.”   
  


“That’s exactly my point.” Damon noted, chuckling and tapping his foot on the ground. “You taught yourself everything that you do, Maria. You taught yourself to react well, to Channel when you can’t think of the proper way out, to use your summons the way you do and to call them away when it’s time to do so in a fight. All of that was you.” The older man sighed and brought his hand to the back of his head, looking into the sky. “I’m just a summoner that’s going to teach you how to control all of that and do it even better than you currently do.”

 

“Oh, come on. Don’t start with that sentimental shit again, Damon!” Karin shouted at the top of her lungs, hopping out of Maria’s lap and stomping her way over to him, knocking dirt into the fire. “You’ve taught me things to not do when I fight, how to keep my energy up when I train, how to use magic in different ways, and all sorts of things! You were the Captain of a bloody expedition team for Noron! Don’t start that shit!” The black-haired girl stomped one last time before huffing and dropping in place, sitting with her legs crossed and her hands in her lap, giggling as Damocles rushed over to her and crawled in. “And you let me keep Damocles when I found him. So, there’s that too.”   
  
Maria tilted her head at the mention of finding Damocles. “Wait, you two found Damocles together? I thought Karin just always had him…”   
  
“No. When she first found me, all she had was her name, her yellow eyes, and a very small scrap of cloth to cover herself with.” The old man chuckled as he looked over at Karin and the tiny dragon that was curled up in her lap. “She asked me to train her and make her stronger, wanting to improve. So, I took her to the various places I’ve been in my life to train and we found Damocles half-dead during our travels. She nursed him back to health, but he’ll never grow to be full size after being that injured.” Damon reached over and gently scratches the top of the dragon’s head, earning a soft cooing sound from it. “And, he’s actually pretty cute when he’s not trying to cook you.”   
  
“Wait, can he breathe fire?” Maria reached forward and gently scratched the underside of Damocles’ chin, giving the small dragon effectively affection from all three people that were around him, a loud cooing leaving him for a moment before he curled around the princess’ fingers, even going as far as to gently bite one of them. “At least he can’t actually eat me!”

  
Maria and Karin both giggled as they looked at Damocles, enjoying the soft red of his scales against the black-haired girl’s clothing. “Well, thank you, Damon. For taking me in and teaching me along the way, even if it is just helping me with stuff I already know.” The blonde stood up from her spot and looked around, seeing the waterfall she was hearing when she woke up in the distance, turning around and seeing the castle in the distance. “I’m so close, but so far from home… It’s almost incredible.”   
  
“We’ll be traveling much more soon, Maria.” Damon spoke up, kicking some dirt into the fire to put it out. “There’s a place I wanna go to let you two train at. Somewhere that I put together many years ago. Though, for now, what do you say we get some lunch? You two must be hungry after that bout!” The ex-Captain stood up from his spot and started heading toward the waterfall, ready to catch more fish for the trio. “Come on and help me catch some fish for lunch. We’ll head into town for a nice cooked dinner at the tavern, though.”   
  
“Would it be alright if we trained again tonight? No weapons, no magic, just hand to hand?” Karin looked over at Maria with a bit of a hopeful expression, wanting to practice her hand to hand combat but knowing that Damon would easily overpower her. “Please?”   
  
Maria quickly nodded and picked up Damocles, watching him run around her body and using her hair to climb on top of her head instead of just climbing. “He seems to be a bit lazy right now, but I’m fine with it.”   
  
“Sure, but only after you eat something today. We’ll go and catch something to eat.”   
  
  


**Part 3**

  
  


A month has passed since Maria first started her training with Damon and Karin. Both girls have grown stronger in their specialities and as fighters, as well as the trio growing closer as friends. However, this is also the true start of their journey together. There are plenty of places for them to visit for their training.

  
  


**Scene 1: “Another Step”**

  
  


Jumping back as quickly as she was able to, Karin did her best to back away from the combo of Maria and Jack, landing on Serpent’s head and adjusting herself to stand properly on the snake’s body. The black-haired girl kept her short sword in hand as she watched her pair of opponents just stand there, waiting, calculating her next move together. It was almost as if they were silently mocking her for catching up to her in strength. “You really think you’re hot stuff, don’t you, Maria? Catching up to me in terms of strength…” She let out a soft breath as she dropped down off of Serpent’s head, making the mistake of gazing at the ground for just a moment to make sure she wasn’t stepping on the spirit’s tail. Of course, she didn’t realize the mistake until she looked up and noticed that her training partner wasn’t standing next to her summon anymore.

 

“I’ll admit. I’m definitely proud of my progress since coming under Damon’s teaching.” Standing behind the yellow-eyed girl with a smile, the princess shifted her foot right foot sideways toward the other girl and sent an elbow straight into her gut, sending her soaring in Jack’s direction. “But, I wouldn’t have made it nearly as far as I have if I didn’t realize just the kind of fighter that I was.~” Watching her summon grab Karin by the face as she finally reached him, the ground under Maria’s feet cracked around her, as if she was getting ready to lunge for some final throw.   
  
Unfortunately, Serpent already wrapped his tail around the princess’s ankles, keeping her in place as he slithered in front of her and opened his mouth as if he was about to devour her. “If you think that having speed in a fight will make you win, you’re sorely mistaken!”   
  
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” Jack shouted to the snake, a smile on his face as he looked through the gap in his fingers to see Karin’s yellow eyes staring daggers at him. “If looks could kill, I’d be dead a thousand times over with that gaze.” The werewolf pulled his arm back and bent his knees, preparing to throw the black-haired girl that was starting to mumble something into his palm.   
  
“Alright, that’s enough! It’s time for breakfast!” Damon held a stick in his hand as he stirred the campfire, watching the flames grow a small bit before looking behind him to see Jack set Karin down on the ground and Serpent let go of Maria’s ankles. “Alright, you two. We’ve got something to talk about today. And you’re not going to like it.” The older man looked at the young girls as they approached the fire, hearing soft grumbles from both of them as if he interrupted something important between them. “So, it’s been about a month since Maria joined us, right? Well, I guess it’s about time for me to let you two in a little secret since you are growing stronger at an incredible rate.”   
  
Maria sat down by the campfire, grabbing one of the fish that was roasting in the flames. “Well, could it have waited a few minutes? We were kinda in the middle of something…” Taking a bite out of the fish, the princess stopped and looked at her arm, noticing just how much definition she had built in her muscles since starting her training. Letting out a soft sigh, food still in her mouth, she shook her head and waved the fish around in the air. “For once, I think I finally caught up to Karin and had a chance to win!”   
  
“Ha! You? Beat me?! Not just yet, Princess. Though, you’ve definitely grown. What was with that speed you had when I got down off of Serpent?” Karin didn’t bother to grab any food this time, just closing her eyes and resting her face in her hands as she waited for Damon to say something to them. “So, what do you wanna talk about, Damon?”   
  
“Well, that’s actually what I wanna talk about. How Maria was able to pull something like that off without using extreme levels of magic.” The ex-Captain pulled his stick from the fire and placed it in the dirt once again, looking at the two girls before smiling. “You two really have grown, you know that? Maria’s no longer the princess we thought her to be, but actually a proper human being. Despite holding her values and wanting to visit her family. And you, Karin…” The black-haired man smiled and pointed his stick at the yellow-eyed girl just as she looked up at him. “...You have grown as well. Ever since having a partner that was almost at your level, and even slowly catching up, you’ve managed to push yourself further and further with the hope of keeping above her.”   
  
“Yeah, but where is this going? You stopped our training just to tell us that we’ve grown stronger? That’s pretty idiotic, isn’t it, Old Man?” Karin sighed as she sat up, grabbing the last fish and taking a bite out of it, looking over to Damon to see if there was more.   
  
“If you didn’t feel the need to interrupt, you’d know why I stopped your sparring match.” The man smirked and gestured with his right arm, pointing to the right. “I want the two of you to spar with me for a little bit..” Seeing Maria open her mouth, Damon rolled his eyes and let out a soft breath. “You’re going to be fighting without using magic or summoning, working on your core strength and abilities. This will help you develop skills needed in battle to fight without using your Energy. Maria is starting to do that and it’s the cause of the speed she has in battle, but the speed she uses is also considered slow for those who are much better at fighting without magic.”   
  
“What?! You want us to go hand to hand against you without using our magic?! What, are you going to tell us to go in with our hands tied behind our backs?!” Maria quickly rose to her feet, swallowing down yet another bite of the fish before tossing the remains into the fire and looking in the direction they were told. “Wait, what do you mean slow?”   
  
“Well, those who fight without magic have to keep up with magic users. Meaning their abilities are naturally stronger and better than ours since they have strived to beat us without spells or anything. And, to put it simply, you two have been fighting each other since day one. It’s grown a bit of a competition between the two of you, and I’m sick of seeing it. You’ve also grown very dependant on magic lately other than that move you pulled earlier, Maria.” Damon tossed his stick into the fire as well and smiled, keeping his eyes on the flames. “You need to learn to work together and fight as a team. And that’s why you’ll be fighting me. Being an ex-Captain, it may have been a few years since I’ve actually had to do any serious fighting, but I’m more than capable of handling myself against two teenagers. You’ll still be able to use your weapons, but you won’t advance anywhere if you focus on each other’s fighting habits. You two need to develop a way to adapt per specific fights. Otherwise, neither of you will ever get anywhere.”   
  
Karin rose to her feet and looked at the princess that was standing next to her, knowing that their mentor was right about them needing to grow and learn how to adapt. “That’s far easier for Maria since she can do basically anything in her imagination.” The black-haired girl watched as her pet dragon came out from her sleeping bag and ran toward the fire, stopping by Damon and bringing a smile to her face. “So, we fight against you without using magic or summoning. Is there anything else to this that we should know about?”   
  
“Yeah. And, I’ll add an extra level of difficulty to it. You must move together when you attack. Do your best to synchronize your strikes. It’ll be a great asset in battle to have someone you trust at your back. I’ll allow you the time to coordinate a bit if you need to. You’re free to come at me together or separately, but you must take me down together.” Damon’s eyes darted to the left, seeing a shadow dash through the trees around their small camp.   
  
Both of the girls groaned and started walking around the campfire to get to the most open and spacious part of their camp. Neither of them seemed to notice whatever their mentor had seen before sending them off. Though, Maria was the first to stop and tap her foot on the ground, trying to think of a way to take down Damon with relative ease. At least, that was until she turned to ask Karin for advice and seeing the yellow-eyed girl grimacing as she held the hilt of her blade. “Something bothering you, Karin? You seem to be on edge lately…”   
  
“Yeah, something is, but I don’t know what.” The black-haired girl brought her hands behind her head as she walked beside her training partner, closing her eyes as she kept going for only another step or two. “Maybe it’s because of the rate of your growth. Maybe it’s because I feel like Damon is starting to hide things from me. Maybe the thought of actually losing is having a toll on me that I wouldn’t have expected.” Letting out a soft sigh, Karin opened her eyes again and shook her head. “You’ll beat me one day. And the thought of not being strong enough to keep going pisses me off…”

 

“You’re plenty strong as is, Karin. And we’ll keep getting stronger together, even if we lose.” Maria smirked and slapped her friend’s back, stepping in front of her and making sure that the black-haired girl could see her smile. “I mean, I haven’t really beaten you yet in a test of true skill. Yet I’m still here and pushing to keep growing.”   
  
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Karin smirked and turned to face Damon, watching the older man draw his sword and toss the sheath to the side. “What do you say we take down this old man and teach him a thing or two?”   
  
“I’m right behind you.~”   
  
  


**Scene 2: “True Test”**

  
  
  


Dropping her head low to the ground, giving her mentor as little space as possible to actually connect when she got to him, Karin let out a heavy breath of steam, something that easily caught the others’ attention before she charged at him. The black-haired girl dashed to the right in a straight line, getting some distance between her and Damon. She trusted Maria to get her back in a moment like this since the princess had the quicker movements, after all. Grabbing onto her short sword with as tight of a grip as she could, the yellow-eyed girl stopped in her tracks and turned both of her feet in the older man’s direction, darting toward him once again and almost purposefully coming in low to gain his attention. She kept her eyes locked on his, making sure that his focus was solely on her.   
  
On the other hand, Maria headed in from the left, pulling her right dagger from its sheath and keeping it close to her chest in her right hand as she came in from what she thought would be a blind spot for him. Without saying a word, the blonde got close enough to be no more than four steps away from him before using her momentum to jump in the air and carry her the rest of the distance. The makeshift plan going through her head was to distract Damon long enough to let Karin land and decent hit on him. Even if it didn’t count per the training’s rules, it showed that the two of them could work in sync in a fight.   
  
Unfortunately for the two girls, Damon was far more experienced than they gave him credit for. Without missing a beat or looking away from Karin, the man reached his left hand out and grabbed Maria by the face, keeping her in the air long enough to let out a soft breath before yanking her between him and the black-haired girl. No one said a word as the mentor forced the two of them to stop in their tracks, throwing the princess into his first pupil and knocking them on the ground within arms reach of him. “Come on, girls! I’ve been fighting longer than you’ve been alive! A simple pincer maneuver isn’t going to work on me!” Swinging his sword down from his neutral position toward the ground at them, the black-haired man smirked as Karin was the one to block his attack with her short sword, despite being pinned under the blonde who was laying on her right side.

 

Showing off just how adaptable she was in a losing situation, Maria reached her left hand for her other dagger as she swung the first toward his shins. Not too low for him to jump over but not too high to put him out of reach if he moved away from her. However, keeping it there only made it easier for her mentor to back his leg out of the way while staying close and keeping Karin’s blade in its place. Over and over, the princess swung the dagger in her right hand back and forth at his left leg, only for him to dance around her like he was at a party. Even as she brought her other dagger toward him, ass Damon did was kick her in the hand and let the impact cause her to drop her weapon.

 

Karin watched with a patient gaze until the princess dropped her blade and Damon stepped on it, pinning it to the ground. Taking the opportunity she thought she saw, the young student pushed herself off of the ground with her free hand, incidentally pulling Maria with her as she kept her blade underneath the older man’s to keep him from finishing his swing. “Follow me, Princess.” Jumping back, the black-haired girl let out a sigh of relief as she watched her training partner do the same, leaving the first dagger behind.

 

However, the two only jumped back far enough to get out of the range of Damon’s sword. That didn’t stop the man from taking a few steps toward them and kicking Maria in the side, putting enough power into the kick once he realized her arms had blocked the initial blow to send the princess into the forest and leave him alone with Karin. “See the kind of strength you can have when you train your muscles and not just your Energy?~” The ex-Captain stopped as he watched the yellow-eyed girl suddenly get into a defensive position, knowing exactly why she was. “Your partner is in the forest and you plan on giving her the time to get back without landing any hits and not having them count? Your instincts really are incredible for your age.” Once again, the brown-eyed man was able to see his black-haired pupil let out a breath of steam, almost as if he could see a flame on her tongue as her mouth was open. “Let’s see if you can actually keep away from me long enough for her to get back!”

 

The black-haired girl nodded in silence, hearing something rustle in the forest behind her and thinking it was just Maria waiting on a good opportunity to strike. “Bring it, Old Man! I’m not going to lose to you today!” Forcing a bluffing smile of confidence to her lips, Karin watched as, step after step, Damon seemed to get closer and closer to her until he was finally close enough to swing his sword. Instead of trying to block it or get out of the way, the yellow-eyed girl did her best to carefully watch the movements of his arms and shoulders, instinctively attempting to predict where each swing was going to be. Luckily, she was able to just barely step out of the way of the first swing that was coming from above her head, taking a step back and keeping focus on his body language once again. When the second swing came from below, there was more rustling in the forest around her, but she was able to ignore it and dodge the second swing Damon made, taking a big step to her right. Unfortunately, the second swing was quickly and easily followed by a third that was headed right for her ribs.   
  
Luckily, that’s the same moment that the princess darted out of the forest, getting between the two of them just enough to use her dagger to block the attack and even parry it above their heads. As if moving on instinct, Maria’s red pupils shrunk and her right hand reached for her mentor’s neck while her left reached for his bicep. The blonde easily knocked Damon down onto the ground with the force of her movement, landing on his chest and keeping him still. Turning her head, the princess went to call out for Karin to make a move, only to see a broadsword falling from the sky and pierce Damon’s stomach without going too deep, blood splattering against her face and back.

 

“Damon!!” Both of the girls screech at the top of their lungs as a dozen people in black robes with hoods step out from the forest, a thirteenth landing on the ground beside their mentor.

  
  


**Scene 3: “Fight Back”**

  
  


A heavy and happy sigh left the man that was crouching beside Damon, his hand on the hilt of the blade that was buried inside of the ex-Captain’s stomach. “Our intel on you was right, then. This is the place of the Summoning Captain, Princess de Graves, and that Dragon Girl…” his voice was low and sultry, almost animalistic while having a sense of calmness to him. “I’m glad we found you when we did.” Turning his hand around so the top of his hand was facing down to the ground, the hooded man took hold of his blade once again, pulling it out of the ex-captain’s stomach before turning to his men. “Ransack the place! The girls are wanted alive, but no one said anything about their camp!~”   
  
Maria watched as blood started to slowly pool in her mentor’s mouth, quickly letting go of his neck as her eyes changed from their natural red to a bright gold and then to a clear white, followed by a bright purple, her mind racing to find the right summon that might be able to save Damon in some way. “No no no. You can’t die, Damon! You can’t… I’m not going to let you leave us!” The young princess ignored the half dozen people that started destroying their camp, starting to tear things apart and burn the area around them.   
  
“Heh.” Damon placed his hand on Maria’s hip and gently pushed her out of the way, pushing forward and forcing himself to sit up on one knee, brown eyes locked on the hooded man that had stabbed him. “Your intel, huh…? Did your intel let you know just what these girls have been up to… Since coming under my care…?” Bringing a hand to his knee and trying to force himself up to his feet, the black-haired man was only able to stand for a solid second or two before dropping back down, the blonde quickly bringing a hand to his back as her eyes finally settled on a shiny gold.   
  
“It did. You’ve been such a wonderful old man in training these young girls in their abilities, but that time of your life is over, Damon.” Lifting his sword into the air telegraphing his swing back down, the hooded figure didn’t hesitate to bring his blade back down. But that didn’t stop a smile from coming to his lips as Karin seemingly appeared under him, the flat portion of her short sword blocking his swing as she stood between him and his target. “Most recently, it told us that Little Miss Dragon here has had a bit of an attitude. It must be that tainted blood inside of her.~”   
  
Karin’s pupils dilated at the mention of dragon blood, anger suddenly taking hold of her heart as she struggled against the man’s blade, trying to push him away and give Maria and Damon time to get away. “Maria, get the old man into town and get him treated! I’m not going to let this fucker leave here alive.” The black-haired girl’s voice was cold and uncaring as she brought her short sword to her side, taking an offensive position and making the initial swing between her and the hooded man. It didn’t matter to her whether or not their camp was destroyed, every nerve inside of her demanding this man’s blood be scattered on the ground.   
  
Maria watched in silence as Karin started attacking the man that had stabbed Damon, Jack walking up behind her and placing a hand on her shoulder. “Jack, take Damon into town. Go as fast as you can and don’t let anyone stop you. If you need to, force your way into the castle and tell Medios. I don’t care, just get him to safety!” The golden-eyed girl watched as the werewolf silently picked up their mentor, seeing the black-haired man look her in the eyes. “What are you standing around for?”   
  
“Don’t let your anger and emotions get to you, Maria. Karin is slowly losing herself, but you need to be strong.” Damon coughed up blood onto Jack’s fur as the werewolf started running from the camp and toward the nearby town. “Steel your heart, Maria! Don’t be scared to let your emotions-” The brown-eyed man broke into a coughing fit as he disappeared into the woods, unable to finish what he was trying to tell her.   
  
“There she is!” A trio of hooded figures all lunge at Maria, swords in hand and start swinging in tandem at her. Of course, neither of them actually try to land a good hit on her, just wanting to make her scared and run away to the other members of their group. At least, that was the plan until Karin suddenly entered their field of view, flying through the air and colliding with the princess, both of them falling onto the ground with a thud and a grunt.   
  
“You see, girls… Our group doesn’t have a name, but you can think of us as bounty hunters, mercenaries, killers for hire, self-made money makers with only one skill of use, whatever you want to tell yourself.” Dragging his bloodied sword on the ground as he approached the duo, the man stopped only a few steps away from them as they scrambled to their feet, the six members that were destroying their camp done and now just focusing on what was happening. “You see, you three have a price on your head in another kingdom. The ex-Captain, the Princess, and the Dragon Girl, are all wanted over there. So, we didn’t see a reason not to come for you.”

 

Both of the girls noticed how the man kept referring to Karin as “dragon girl”, neither of them thinking they could say anything as they drew their weapons and got ready to put up a fight. Maria was the first one to move, though, charging to the man and gasping as he immediately swung at her without remorse, connecting the attack and slicing a small bit into her arms since she wasn’t able to get her blades up in time to fully block the attack. The princess turned her attention to the other three that had ganged up on her a moment ago, ignoring the small amount of blood loss and the constant draining of Energy due to having Jack summoned and taking care of Damon. “You picked the wrong people to hunt down….”   
  
On the other hand, Karin was solely focused on the one that had stabbed Damon, her mind and body consumed in her anger and only growing more and more frustrated and upset when none of her attacks were connecting with his body. “Just what do you want with us?! Why do you keep calling me Dragon Girl? How do you know about Damocles?!” Lunging forward and thrusting her arm forward in an attempt to stab the man in the stomach, the black-haired girl gasped as he simply grabbed her sword with his bare hand and stopped her assault in its tracks.   
  
“Damocles?” The man looked around, noticing the small dragon that was in one of the trees. “Ah… That thing. Ha!” Using his grip on the yellow-eyed girl’s sword, the bounty hunter threw his arm to the left, causing Karin to spin in place in front of him. “Let’s just say that The Five Marks would really love to hear from you again. Must have something to do with how that tainted blood of yours can improve someone’s abilities.” The hooded figure smirked and reached his hand out, grabbing the side of the black-haired girl’s face before picking her up off the ground and seeing steam follow his hand. “What-”   
  
“AGEX!!” Opening her mouth, just like a dragon would, Karin blew fire into the man’s face, setting him aflame and forcing him to drop her. “Senex!” Dropping her hands to the ground, the black-haired girl forced four walls of dirt to extend from the ground and surround the man. Without any hesitation, tilted her head back and spit fire at him once again, catching his body on fire this time, twisting her hands on the ground and causing the dirt walls to quickly collide together on the man, squishing him and causing blood to spill out from the few cracks created when they collided together. Breathing heavily, rage burning in her eyes, Karin turned her attention to the three closest men that were looking at her. Taking a deep breath, the girl’s yellow eyes dilated as flames started to lick her tongue, only for them to grow as everyone looked away from her, all eyes falling on Maria, just in time to watch her fall to the ground on her knees.   
  
Hitting the ground on her knees, being easily overtaken by the three men, Maria stared at the ground, eyes wide and heart pounding like it was going to burst out of her chest. Emotions and thoughts swirled in her head as she was able to see Karin looking at her from the corner of her eyes, feeling utterly defeated as her training partner and friend was able to win her match. Placing her hands on the ground, she was granted the courtesy of the bounty hunters wanting to take their time with her. “Se-” Everything around the camp pulsed, as if everything was connected to Maria’s heart. She was at her limit, easily indicated by the black markings that slowly started to crawl up her arm from her right hand, stopping at her elbow.   
  
Karin was able to see Maria’s golden eyes have an empty look of them, void of almost anything indicating life. Unfortunately, she was also able to see one of the three men raise his sword in the air like he was going to deal the finishing blow to the young princess. “No… She’s Fracturing…? Maria! You need to move, Maria! Mo-” Just as the man swung his sword down toward the girl, the area around them pulsed once again, the princess’s hand moving in a blur and stopping the sword with her bare hand.   
  
Maria chuckled as her own blood splattered across her face, one of her golden eyes slowly turning as black as a void. Keeping a firm hold on the blade in her left hand, the area around the blonde pulsed once again, this time, everything in the area getting heavy as she slowly rose from both knees to one and then to her feet. Opening her mouth, nothing but noise left the princess as a young girl with black and feathery wings appeared beside her. Feeling the girl’s presence, the noise stopped and the princess spoke. “Angelica… It’s been a long time…”   
  
“It has, Little One! You’ve grown into such a gorgeous young thing. But, look at you… I’m so proud.” The small girl with black wings flew into the air and hovered above everyone, a smile on her face as she looked down to Maria. “Ready to kill and push yourself beyond the edge of control just to keep one old man safe… Talk about friendship.~”   
  
Taking in a deep breath, the princess’s void-black eyes starting to turn gold once again. “I… Don’t need you… to save… them!” Reaching her left hand out and punching the guy who tried to kill her in the stomach, Maria didn’t bother to question why the hole in his gut appeared as he went flying, the blade still firm in her hand. Turning her head to the side, the bright gold in her eyes starting to fade, the black markings on her arm started to fade back down to her hand. It was as if she was resisting the Fracture of her own will.   
  
“She’s… She’s capable of such a thing…? Just what is Maria?” Karin sat on her knees as she watched the bounty hunters start to scatter away from the camp, half of them getting too scared to stick around and keep fighting. That’s when the yellow-eyed girl realized that her eyes were still golden while the markings were fading. “Jack’s still out! He’s helping her?!” Gritting her teeth, the black-haired girl could feel her emotions going haywire inside of her. Curiosity about Maria’s relationship with the spirits, anger about not being able to help her friend or her mentor in a time or need, fear that the princess may not realize who she is and attack her on accident, as well as interest to if a Fracture is actually capable of being rejected or if Jack is just that nice of a Beast.   
  


Dropping the blade that was cutting into her hand and letting it fall to the ground, Maria quickly picked it back up and swung clean through the other two bounty hunters that were standing beside her, smiling as their blood coated the right side of her face. “I trust you, Jack… If this goes south… You’re going to regret it…” The girl’s voice was distorted as she gripped the broadsword in both hands and dug her feet into the ground, jumping horizontally above the ground and past Karin, digging her feet into the ground and stabbing one of the few remaining bounty hunters in the stomach, letting go of the blade and wrapping her hands around her mouth as she stopped in place. “Agyru!” Taking a deep breath and turning her head to the ground, the princess turns herself in a circle around her and the yellow-eyed girl, forming a tornado of flames and pushing herself even further past where her Energy was supposed to run out.   
  
“M-Maria…?” Karin slowly rose to her feet, wrapping an arm around Maria from behind and making the girl stop what she was doing, tears forming in her eyes as her emotions finally became too much for her to properly hold back. “Stop… It’s okay… Stop pushing yourself…” Bringing her hand over the princess’s golden eyes, a gasp left the yellow-eyed girl as her friend suddenly fell to the ground, the last remnants of her Energy gone and used up. Catching her and sitting on the ground, Karin watched at the swirling flames soon vanished now that their source of magic had stopped. Looking around the destroyed area, she was able to see that there were only three people left on the other side of their camp, even if they looked just as terrified as she felt. “Just three, huh…?”   
  
For some reason, when she gently laid Maria on her back, everything felt so… easy. So calm and serene. As if nothing in the world could touch her. “Serpent.” Turning her body toward the remaining three, the yellow-eyed girl raised her hand in the air and watched as her summon rose from the ground, engulfing one in his mouth without warning. Taking the moment of confusion that the other’s hand, the black-haired girl took a deep breath and ran towards them, finding herself within only a few steps of them in a matter of seconds. Without her shortsword in her hand, Karin was left to fight with just her bare hands.   
  
Luckily, as one of them noticed her and swung at her, the blade was low enough for her to jump over it and toward his head. There was no hesitation as she hooked her knees into the man’s neck and pulled him to the ground with her, landing on her toes and hearing a very loud crack from his neck. Turning her attention to the other one, Karin didn’t have the chance to move before Serpent was already behind the man, engulfing him in his mouth as well and leaving just the two girls and a few corpses in the area. Falling to her knees and closing her eyes as exhaustion finally caught up to her, the yellow-eyed girl was able to hear was Damocles landing on her back and quietly roaring at her. “Yeah, I know, little guy… We shouldn’t have gone all out…”   
  
A soft chuckle left her lips as she could hear footsteps headed in her direction, her eyes still closed as she stayed on her knees. “Another one…? Don’t you guys know when to give up…?”   
  
“It’s not one of them, Lady Karin…” Serpent said as he coiled up beside her, making sure to stay close as he watched a man with dozens of pouches approaching his summoner. “It seems this man is an alchemist.”   
  
“I was right!” The man cheered to himself in an overly happy tone as he reached into one of his pouches and grabbed some of the same rock candy that Damon usually had a supply of. Without giving warning or concern, he popped one of them in Karin’s mouth and watched her eyes open to see just who was force-feeding her. Though, the sight of a man with deep blue eyes and a disheveled gray beard was certainly not what she expected to see. “The name’s Perdix. One of Damon’s associates. I saw him being carried into town by a werewolf with a hole in his chest and I knew something was wrong.” Not bothering to check and see if Karin was okay, the man with gray hair rushed over to Maria’s spot in the ground as quickly as he could, popping some of the blue candy into her mouth as well. “Come on, come on…”   
  
After a moment, when the candy finally got into her system, Maria’s red eyes shot open and she quickly sat up, bringing a hand to her chest as sweat started to pour from her skin. “What… What happened….?”   
  
“Something I’ve never seen before, Princess.” Perdix smiled as he brought a hand to Maria’s shoulder, looking into her eyes as he grabbed her hand. “Back to red and no longer gold. No stiffness in the hand…” Letting out a soft breath, the man bearded man smiled and let go of the princess. “You should be better… Not out of the woods, but better.” The blue-eyed man smiled and stood up from his crouching position. “Damon is in the castle, by the way. Jack would have made it by now.”


End file.
